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Entered according to Act of Congress, in June, 1869, by J. W. Bukke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So.D i strict ofGeargia
Vol. 111-—No. 37.
MA.KING WATCHES BY MACHINEEY -11,
f«OW shall a watch be made to
go uniformly through summer
&:r- and winter ? A steel rod may
be fitted into a hollow steel cylinder so
perfectly that it will not drop out of its
own weight, and vet it can be turned or
pulled out by the thumb and finger, and
it moves with the softness of velvet roll
ing on velvet. Hold the same rod in
the shut hand for five minutes and the
warmth of the flesh will expand it so
that one cannot drive it in with a sledge
hammer. Then put it in a refrigerator
and it will contract till itjattles in the
cylinder. If the metal is brass, tem
perature affects it still more. "W inter
will so contract the balance-wheel of a
watch that it may gain two minutes in
a day ; or it may be thrown out of time
by a few hour’s hard riding, or by
hanging all night against a cold wall.
Uneven temperature is the deadly foe of
uniform time-keeping.
In 1767, John Harrison was awarded
a premium of ,£20,000, under an offer
of the British Parliament —which had
been standing fifty-three years—for any
invention which should so far overcome
this difficulty as to enable shipmasters
at sea to determine longitude within
thirty miles of accuracy. He gained it
by applying to ship chronometers the
principle of the compensation-balance,
now used in all fine watches. It is sim
ply a balance-wheel with outer rim or
tire of brass, and inner rim and cross
arm of steel. The cold, which would
contract steel alone and make the cir
cumference of the wheel less, equalizes
that by contracting the brass still more,
the brass being so confined that its con
traction enlarges the wheel. Under the
influence of heat the steel’s expansion
would enlarge the wheel, but then the
greater expansion of the brass contracts
it. When these two influences are so
nicely adjusted that the one exactly
counterbalances the other, the watch
will keep equal time whether in Alaska
or Havana.
Until very lately American jewelers
MACON, GEORGIA, MARCH 12, 1870.
l/ 'A
THE TOWN OF ELGIN.
imported wheels, balances, and other
material i*eady-inade from Switzerland,
fitted the various parts together by hand,
pul their stamp][upon them, and called
THE ELGIN WATCH FACTORY.
that watch-making. Its art and mys
tery was acquired in an apprenticeship
of from three to five years. In Swit
zerland, division of labor had been in
troduced long before. Each workman
performed someone process of shaping,
cutting, or finishing parts of the watch
in his own little shop at home, and re-
turned the parts to the manufacturer, as
boot-making is done in Xew England.
And for many of the processes, little
labor-saving machines, which were run
VVhole No. 141.
by foot-lathes, had come to be
used.
In 1802, a Boston watch-ma
ker conceived the plan of produ
cing watches by collecting all
these machines under one roof,
and running them by one power.
His wild dream was that a time
might come when a manufactory
could turn out ten watches a day.
Most, of his friends voted him
crazy, but he had the one quality
which makes all lunacy contagi
ous —profound earnestness. He
soon made three others as mad
as himself, and the four lunatics
built a factory in Roxbury.
But the Swiss authorities would
not permit the export of ma
chines, models, or drawings; so,
Yankee-like, the four pioneers in-
vented and constructed machines for
themselves. Finally, they turned out a
watch, the first ever made by machinery
in the world. It is yet in the posses.
sion of its original owner, and
keeps excellent time. The ma
chines were very imperfect, and
much of the work vvas still done
by hand. But from that begin
ning have sprung all our watch
factories, now situated respective
ly in Elgin, Illinois, Newark and
Marion, New Jersey, and Wal
ham, Roxbury, and Springfield,
Massachusetts.
As we step aboard the Galena
train at Chicago, we observe the
placard, “Pacific Ex press ; does
not Stop at Way Stations.” We
ponder behind the locomotive for
forty miles; then the brakeman
ends our reverie by shouting
“Elgin.”
Leaving the train, we gaze
down upon a far-spreading little
city, with court-house, academy
and churches upon commanding
knolls, brick blocks and broad
streets, cottages pleasantly sha-
ded with oak, maple, and poplar, a
woolen mill, a flouring mill, a butt-and
screw manufactory, and a milUonndens
ing establishment that ships its product